


Another Life, Same Demons

by enemies_lovers_paradise



Series: Another Life [2]
Category: Frostiron - Fandom, MCU, Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies), avenegrs
Genre: Avengers Family, Avengers Tower, Canon Divergence - Post-Avengers (2012), Deaf Clint Barton, Domestic Avengers, FrostIron - Freeform, Loki has a heart, M/M, Multi, Not Avengers: Endgame (Movie) Compliant, Odin (Marvel)'s A+ Parenting, Tags will be added as the story grows, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, You could call it an Endgame fix it, but nothing to change archive warnings, by that I mean the only one to die is Thanos, here we screw the timeline
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-10-31
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-01-15 20:04:15
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 18,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21258884
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enemies_lovers_paradise/pseuds/enemies_lovers_paradise
Summary: Tony and Loki have been having a strangely relaxing few months, little to know bad guys, pretty good relationship with the team, but of course things don't last and their peace is disrupted when Thanos begins his hunt for the Infinity Stones.A story with fluff, angst, some action and frostiron, hope you enjoy.While this is a sequel, you don't strictly have to read the first one, I'd recommend it, however all you really need to know is that Loki and Tony are in a pre-existing relationship, and that Loki is living at the tower, the rest should be fairly self explanatory, and if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Finally writing the sequel!! Sorry for the delay but school has been hectic recently and I've been generally busy, but here it is! I'll be trying to keep a schedule of a chapter a week most likely over the weekend but we'll see.
> 
> Either way hope you enjoy the first chapter!

Tony has always thought storybook endings couldn’t come true for people like him, and while Tony wouldn’t call this an end, it would make for a pretty good happily ever after.

Tony’s with Loki on what you could call a lunch date, seriously Tony Stark goes on lunch dates now, with a god no less, at a small cafe in New York, a spot they’ve been going to fairly often because to quote Loki, it has the best tea in this miserable city.

Proof of Loki’s addiction to the tea is that he’s finishing his third cup for today.

“I still don’t understand how you can like tea so much.” Tony says as Loki drinks the remainder of his cup. “It’s just hot leaf juice.”

“If we’re describing drinks like that, then you’re beloved coffee Anthony, is nothing more than warm bean water.” Loki replies rolling his eyes.

“Shut up reindeer games, at least I didn’t order something once because I thought it was tea and then spat it out when I realized it was coffee.”

“It was one time, and how am I supposed to know when you give drinks so many nonsensical names.”

“That’s humans for you, dumb names and a lot of caffeine.” Tony returns with a smile.

It’s been a little over six months since the handsome man sitting across from Tony was attacking the very city they’re in, and a little over four months since Tony first got together with that man.

Those four months have been the best months of Tony’s life, and not even just because of the sex, Tony’s heard plenty of people say that their boyfriend or girlfriend completes them, and awhile ago he would have said it’s bullshit, but now, well he’d be one of the people saying it.

It also doesn’t hurt that it’s been a few weeks since anyone tried to take over the world so the peace and quiet has been nice, and with more down time Loki and Thor have spent more time together, and their whole strange sibling problems seem to be slowly getting resolved, speaking of.

“Hey are you and Thor making dinner today? Because I think Thor said something about this week and the last time you made dinner for everyone I swear I went to heaven.”

Loki laughs lightly before replying, “Tomorrow, though I’m glad you liked it, I still don’t understand how everyone thought we couldn’t cook.”

“Well here most royalty, or hell most rich people don’t make their own food, I can get by if I have to but most of my life other people have made my food, I’ve only recently learned to make more things, so we all just kind of figured you and Thor had servants make stuff.”

“I still don’t understand that, if you can have others make it for you you might as well, but you should still know how, what if someday they’re not there, what are you going to do, starve? Our mother made sure we could at the very least feed ourselves.” Loki says rolling his eyes at the end.

Tony smiles slightly at Loki’s words, our mother. It’s been clear from the beginning that Loki is closer to his mom, but Tony thinks this is the first time he’s said that a parent was both his and Thor’s.

Tony was about to ask what they’re going to make this time when a woman comes up to their table phone in hand, well they’d gone a long time without a photo request, might as well smile.

“Hello.” Tony says with his best public smile.

“Hi, um big fan, but are you going to do anything about this?” The woman replies, the nerves clear in her voice as she shows Tony her phone at his look of confusion.

“Now that I know it’s happening, I’ll be right on it, Loki get us home I need to pick up a suit.” Tony says standing up and placing cash on the table.

“What’s happening?” Loki asks standing with him.

“Giant acidic lizards.”

Tony appears in Times Square with the team in toe to see the lizards running rampant.

“Tony you want to tell us what exactly is happening?” Clint asks turning towards him.

“Apparently some scientists were experimenting with frilled neck lizard, still not sure what they were trying to do, but they somehow made them grow a shit ton and now they spit acid, said scientists requested help from the police or anyone else, and they also said not to kill them if possible because they think they can fix them.”

Clint just nods like it’s far from the strangest thing he’s ever heard.

“I’m sitting this one out then.” Says Bruce, “We don’t want to kill them so I’ll see if I can give the scientists a hand, if it’s something to do with radiation I might be able to help find the solution.”

“Good idea,” Says Steve, “Alright here’s our plan, mainly keep them here and in range of the police, they have tranquilizers so try to help them shoot the things, Clint, Loki can get you up high so you can call the shots, everyone else you know what to do.”

The fight plays out like any other for the most part, only difference is this time they’re not trying to blow the things up, partly because if Tony’s being honest the lizards almost look like they’re in pain, and while he doesn’t know much about reptiles he’d say they’re scared.

About fifteen minutes later Tony looks around to see the police still standing, the lizards paying the Avengers a lot more attention thankfully, and a few of the lizards are already sleeping on the ground, for the sake of anyone involved in the experiment he hopes they can fix them before they wake up.

Tony then turns to check on his teammates, seeing him Tony thinks Loki has the best strategy, move around and make a lot of noise so the lizards come close, and when they get too close teleport somewhere else, in contrast poor Thor looks almost confused, his usual approach involves killing things with a lot of lightning, so he’s really just trying to scare them away from the cops, Steve Natasha, Barnes and Clint are faring well, and it seems like the hearing aids aren’t causing Clint any problems, the lizards seem more interested in the flying or teleporting teammates, and it’s good to know the vibranium shield holds up against destructive acid.

The suit it seems, is not. Shit.

Tony wipes around to see the lizard who shot acid straight at his core, shit this could be bad, Tony flies away and starts ripping off the center armour as fast as he can, being careful to not touch it with his hands.

“Tony are you alright!” Steve shouts over the comms panic leaking through his voice.

“I’ll live, one of them shot the suit and started tearing it up, but I got it off before it reached my skin.”

“Be careful now,” Loki adds, “If you get hit the armour won’t be there, if you are hit come straight to me.”

“My hero, and yeah first thing goes wrong I’ll let you know.”

And of course with Tony’s luck, something goes wrong.

This time it’s in the form of a claw ripping open what Tony thinks is his stomach.

“Fucking hell!” 

Loki appears next to him in a matter of seconds and the last thing Tony makes out before collapsing from loss of blood is Loki putting the lizard out of its misery, and running to break his fall with a distraught face calling his name.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Second chapter here we go!
> 
> Thanks to everyone who left comments and kudos already they make my day and I'm happy to know you guys are liking the story so far!

The first thing Tony notices is that he has a giant headache, the nest thing is that he’s not dead and that it doesn’t even make sense for him to have a headache since he’s pretty sure he was cut in the stomach.

He slowly opens his eyes to the harsh lights indicating a hospital room, a quick glance down assures him no one messed with the reactor while he was out.

“Hey you’re back.” Bruce says from his chair on Tony’s left.

“Can’t kill me that easily.” Tony replies sitting up slightly, “You can apparently make my insides feel awful that easily though, shit.”

Bruce looks like he would laugh if he wasn’t such a good person before answering.

“Yeah you were hit pretty bad, the lizard sliced open your stomach, you would have been bleeding like crazy by the time we got you here if it wasn’t for Loki.”

“Remind me to thank him for that. Oh and where am I exactly?” 

“The shield hospital.” 

Tony just groans and throws his head back against his pillow in response, and then quickly lets out more swears when the movement hurts his stomach even more.

“Tony please stop moving, and don’t worry know one looked at or touched anything they shouldn’t have, Loki was pretty much being a prison warden for who could come in here, and I think he scared the doctors half to death while insisting he stay in the room while they worked.”

“Picturing that isn’t too hard, remind me to send those doctors a slightly bigger paycheck for the trouble, it’s nice to know he let you in here.”

“I think the only reason I got myself, Pepper and Rhodey too, in was because I think he’s still scared of the Hulk.”

Tony laughs and quickly regrets it before replying, “Yeah I don’t think he likes the other guy very much, where is he anyway, Pep and Rhodes too?”

“The only reason Loki’s not here is because everyone yelled at him to get some rest until you wake up because he looked pretty tired from using magic, he said it wasn’t a big deal but Thor was a little more worried, you could probably ask him in a bit, and as for Pepper and Rhodey they should be outside, I’ll go get them.”

The door wasn’t even fully closed behind Bruce when Pep and Rhodes come in.

“Good to see you Tony.” Comes Rhodey’s greeting accompanied by a warm smile.

Tony doesn’t even have time to make a reply before Pepper cuts in.

“Jesus how many times do I have to tell you to be more careful, I was cursing at the news when you kept fighting with the armour torn! What were you thinking?!” Starts Pepper’s much less calm, but just as endearing greeting, after taking a deep breath she comes over to plant a kiss on his forehead and say.

“I’m just glad you’re okay, you’re an idiot, but you’re not dead.”

“Thanks Pep, this idiot will try to stay around a bit longer, and good to see you Rhodey it’s been too long.” Tony replies with a smile. 

Just then Loki pops up next to Tony’s bed and doesn’t waste a second before pulling him into a not so chaste kiss.

Tony melts into it for a few seconds before pushing him away a little.

“As much as I’d love to keep doing that, we have company and my stomach is killing me.”

Loki rolls his eyes at the comment on company but does take a seat on the chair closest to the bed.

“I’m pleased to see you’re not dead.”

“I’ve been told I have you to thank for that, even if you scared the doctors half to death.”

“It wasn’t any trouble.” Loki replies.

“Loki I think you’re selling yourself short just a little,” Pepper says, “When the shield helicopter showed up it had been close to ten minutes since Tony was hit, most of his blood should have been on the ground, you single handedly kept him from bleeding out.” 

At that Pepper comes over and gives Loki a hug, at first Loki stands stiff as a bored, but he relaxes after a few seconds.

Tony is still incredibly thankful that Pepper and Loki get along, hell you could probably say they like each other.

“And I’m not such what you did but you did a lot of stuff before the doctors even came in the room.” Rhodey adds.

“Yeah Bruce said you were worn out from the magic, should we be worried?” Tony asks just now remembering that detail.

“No it’s truly nothing, ordinarily I would have been fine after the fight even with all the teleporting since it was just myself, however I must admit healing magics aren’t my field of expertise, those tend to drain my magic far faster than other spells, but Thor made sure I ate so you have nothing to worry about.”

“Alright that makes sense, if you’re ever worn out from magic let me know, I might not understand it much but getting you food and rest I can do, we could probably have some fun before resting too.” Tony says with a wink.

“Alright well I think I’ll give you two some privacy, Pepper you coming?” Rhodey says shaking his head as he stands.

Pepper gets up to join him and turns to say, “Glad you’re safe Tony, but please for the sake of your stomach keep your pants on at least till you’re home.” 

“Yes mam.” Tony says through a laugh.

“Now that they’re gone…” Tony starts while raising an eyebrow.

“As much as I’d love too, your dear Miss Potts is right, your stomach must, how would you put it, hurt like a bitch.”

“Piss off stop making me laugh.” Tony says through a fit of laughter and some swears from the pain.

“Do you think you could do something about the pain?” 

“Of course, I was going to earlier but the doctors weren’t sure it’d be safe with the anesthetic.” Loki says as he moves to sit next to Tony on the bed.

Loki puts one hand on Tony’s core and the other over his forehead.

“This will likely feel a little strange.”

“That’s fine with me, I trust you.”

Loki closes his eyes and his hands start to glow a faint green, then starting from his stomach Tony feels a warm sensation spread until it overtakes the pain.

Loki then removes his hands and asks, “Better?”

“Way better, there’s room for two on the bed if you, I’ll probably have to stay here for a least a few more hours before the doctors say I can go.”

“Move over then Anthony.”

Tony does so and Loki quickly gets into bed alongside him, slinging one arm around his neck.

“Once we are back at the tower, what do you want to do?”

“Well I should probably go to bed, get some sleep or whatever, so I’ll probably get some coffee and find something to work on in the lab, maybe watch something in the background.”

“How about we forgo the coffee and lab altogether and simply watch something in bed?”

“I don’t know-”

“I’ll make it worth your while in the morning.” Loki says the corner of his mouth lifting to form an inviting smirk.

“Well you know I can’t say no to that.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This might just be the longest chapter I've done yet!
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's left comments and kudos on this so far it always makes my day!

It’s around midday and Loki is sitting on the roof while reading a book. 

Truth be told from the god of lies he hasn’t been reading since he got here, he’s just been thinking with a book on his lap.

He wouldn’t say he’s avoiding Anthony, even though aside from the early morning fun in bed he hasn’t seen him all day, and he didn’t exactly put his all into that. Loki wouldn’t say he’s avoiding anything, not now at least.

How could he have been foolish enough to overlook this? And why did he remember now? It’s not like they haven’t been in life threatening situations before, even without that this fact should have been staring him in the face.

Seeing Anthony bleeding on the ground and doctors saying he came close to death from such a fast wound was a fatal reminder or Anthony’s mortality.

More painful still is that Loki didn’t notice, didn’t care or didn’t stop to consider it while he was falling more and more for his mortal, and now he’s too far in to stop, and he can’t except that if everything goes well, Anthony will have him his whole life, while Loki will only have him some forty, fifty years, maybe less?

Loki has told himself many times not to get attached, people leave, they betray, or simply die, and yet he went and fell in love with the most brilliant mortal this universe knows and he doesn’t know what in helheim to do!

If he was any less selfish than he is Loki would leave now and spare himself worse hurt down the line, yet the promise of instant gratification, and knowing how that would hurt Anthony in turn means he cannot.

It’s then that Loki’s interrupted by the distinct sound of Iron Man’s suit in flight.

Loki turns to see Anthony fly down and land on the roof a few feet away, suit coming off around him.

“Alright you want some alone time that’s more then fine, you know you’re not trapped in the tower anyway so you can go for a walk or something if you want but dammit Loki you had me worried.   
I haven’t seen you since this morning and I go to ask Jarvis where you are and he says he can’t see you in or around the tower, if I didn’t find you soon I don’t know what I would have done, but now I find you and you somehow hid yourself from Jarvis and I have to ask who are you hiding from?” Anthony all but shouts with a notably stressed and worried tone.

Against all of Loki’s instincts, the same force that drove him to open up to Anthony those months ago prompts him, while looking anywhere but Anthony, to reply.

“You.”

With that small word all of Anthony’s fight and tension seems to slip out of him as he comes over to kneel next to him.

“Tell me I didn’t hear you right, did you say you’re hiding from me?”

Loki gives a small nod in return.

“Care to tell me why reindeer games?”

“You’re mortal.”

“Yeah, have been all my life why are-”

“I’m not, you’ll die and I’ll linger on.” Loki cuts him off finally meeting his gaze.

For a moment Anthony looks at him unsure of how to proceed. 

“I- Yeah, you’re right, but we still have now, I mean we still have a long time-”

“Long for who? How long do you really think forty years really is, when I’ll be alive centuries after that, how long do you really think-”

“What so it doesn’t matter then?” Anthony cuts him off voice growing tense with frustration.

“I’m sorry if that isn’t good enough for you but as far as I can tell there isn’t a way to fix that, I’ll live as long as I live but what, we just give up because at some point it’ll end? Everything ends at some point that doesn’t mean it’s worthless.”

“How would you feel? If you were in my position would you be happy to ignore that one day I’ll be gone and you’ll be alone. Because somehow I don’t think that’s in your nature.”

“I- Loki it’s not- I’m not saying it doesn’t suck I just don’t get what you want me to do! I can’t just live forever sorry but I was born a human tough luck, it’s not my fault you’re just tuning in now.” 

“You could at the very least make an effort not to get yourself killed ahead of your already short time! You could stop to think for one moment before doing something reckless or stupid-”

“Oh so now I’m selfish for trying to help people? I’m sorry but no can do, I can’t just sit on the sidelines watching, and besides if it’s so little time that it doesn’t matter then why do you care if it’s shorter-”

“Why do I care?” Loki scoffs to keep the reaction building in his eyes from escaping before continuing. “Maybe Anthony, it has something to do with that fact I love you, or that fact that you’re undoubtedly the best thing that’s happened in my life.”

Loki doesn’t wait to hear a reply before teleporting away.

Twenty minutes and a cup of espresso later and Tony has stopped pacing around the lab to finally start thinking over whatever the hell that conversation was.

“J can I yell for a minute?”

“Of course sir.”

“Thanks.”

Tony takes a deep breath in an effort to collect some of his thoughts before starting.

“It’s just, I don’t get what he wants me to do. Just stop being mortal? I can’t and even if I could, I'd have to think about for awhile, sure it has its perks but I’d also outlive everyone I know, seeing that many people you care about die isn’t going to do anything to help my PTSD and- okay I get where he’s coming from. But what, does he want to break up then? He didn’t say that but I don’t get what he wants to do to avoid my inevitable death, and I sure as hell won’t let that happen.

And what the hell was he saying about me being reckless? Just because I got hurt on a mission?”

“Sir, if I may say something.” Jarvis cuts in with a soft tone.

Tony lets out a breath. “Yeah go ahead.”

“I feel your best course of action would be to convince him any amount of time is worthwhile, I feel he already knows this, as for you being reckless, he certainly wouldn’t be the first person to suggest it, however I believe he simply does not wish to see you die, a sentiment I share.”

For all Tony knows Jarvis cares about him, whenever he voices it it's always different than simply knowing.

“Thanks J I-” Tony trails off in thought for a moment.

“Jarvis where’s Loki now?”

“I trust you’re not going to do something rash.”

“Come on you know who you’re talking to.”

“That is precisely what worries me sir.” He replies, the humor returning to the AI’s voice.

“Come on I promise I’m not going to do something stupid.”

After a moment of silence Jarvis finally gives his answer.

“Mr Laufeyson is currently in Barnes’s room along with Mr Rogers.”

“Can you tell him to come to the lab when he’s done, and J if he doesn’t come tell me where he is?”

“Gladly sir.”

Loki closes his eyes as he attempts to concentrate on further sorting Barnes’s mind.

He’s been helping him clear his head as much as he can since he came to the tower, a slow moving thing seeing as most of the work comes from Barnes himself. 

It would have been far easier if Hydra’s methods were magic, however what they did to Barnes was far more psychological in nature and the damage has become a part of his brain.

However that does not mean it’s impossible, proof being in how Barnes has started feeling safer, he’s smiling more, and has even joined them on missions, it is still a rather difficult task helping clear out the fake or distorted memories and knowledge any day, today it is nearly impossible.

Every time Loki manages to clear his own head for the spell he thinks back to his conversation with Anthony and his focus is lost.

It’s just after the tenth time this has happened that he pulls his hands away from Barnes with a sigh.

“I apologize but I cannot focus enough today to do this safely.”

Steve and Barnes look surprised but at least not disappointed or mad. 

“Is there something we can do to help?” Steve asks.

If only, “No, it’s simply something I have to figure out myself.”

“That’s alright.” Barnes chimes in, “We can pick up again another day, it’s not as bad anymore, and a big part of that is because of you, so don’t worry.”

“Give yourself some credit, but yes we’ll try again tomorrow.” 

Waving goodbye Loki walks out of the room and closes the door.

“Hello Mr Laufeyson.”

“Hello Jarvis.”

“Sir wanted to ask if you could join him in the lab.”

Loki stops mid step to consider this, if he just wishes to yell more than he won’t bother, but he won’t know that unless he goes.

“Tell him I’ll be there in a moment.”

“Well?” Loki says as he appears in front of Anthony.

“Wow! Jarvis didn’t even get a chance to say you were coming wait a minute next time- you know what that’s not important.”

He takes a deep breath and walks closer before looking up to meet Loki’s eyes.

“Look, you know I suck at any kind of emotion talk, so bear with me here. I think I get what you mean, you’re right, this sucks, I hate that I can’t be around as long as you’ll be, I really hate it, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to let us break this off because I love you too.” 

Looking into Anthony’s deep brown eyes Loki opens his mouth to speak before he cuts him off.

“Give me a minute, we can’t change the fact that I’m mortal, at least not that I know of, but I was thinking about what you said of me being reckless. And while I reject that, I think I have an idea to help. 

First of all, I'll try to be a bit smarter about battle situations, if you promise to do the same, you’re not invincible you know, and you don’t have infinite magic either, aside from that I did come up with an idea. The reason I got hurt was because I kept fighting with a hole in the suit, what if I had a way for the suit to repair itself, I’ve been thinking about it for awhile and with your help I’m sure I could make it better.”

Anthony pauses to come close enough to reach up and place a hand on Loki’s check.

“What I’m trying to say is, if you promise to live now, and not spend too much time worrying about the future, then I’m hoping with your help, I’ll have a brand new nano tech suit as a little extra protection.”

Loki pulls Anthony into a hug, quickly followed by a kiss, letting them linger together for a moment after his avoidance earlier that day before pulling back to answer.

“Anthony I’m sorry if I made you think I thought our time worthless, because it is anything but. If you can make an effort to stay alive, I’ll make one to focus on now.”

Anthony’s reply comes in the form of a kiss, and roaming hands and legs that lead them towards the sofa.

As Anthony’s hands rake through Loki's hair while clothes start to fall away and legs began to part, Loki vows to keep this promise, but to find a way for them not to need it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some good old hurt/comfort for ya, which isn't completely resolved yet but we'll get there.
> 
> Also I wasn't 100% sure on the pacing for this chapter, so if anyone has any suggestions for improvements on this chapter feel free to leave a comment on that, however please make sure they're constructive and not just criticism, because that's just rude.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A week late, sorry! 
> 
> I've been pretty busy with school and for some reason this chapter fought with me.
> 
> I hope you enjoy this more short and sweet chapter!

“How many more of these papers do I need to sign?” Tony asks giving Pepper a pleading look.

“It’s not my fault you left these until last minute, if you started them when I told you you wouldn’t need to do them all at once.”

“Okay fair point, though I still don’t get why I even have to sign these, I mean you're the CEO of the company after all, shouldn’t your word be good enough?”

“Sadly for you no, it’s your technology so you still have to put your name on the fine print, so stop complaining and finish this, I’ll get Chinese when you’re done.”

“Pepper Potts who knew you’d be so good at bribing.” Tony replies with a playful smile before picking up the pen again to sign what seems like the millionth paper today.

A process that’s been made a little slower because he keeps thinking about Loki.

After the initial anger they managed to sort things out at least a little, but he can’t help but still be a little worried. Loki wasn’t just frustrated or mad, he was scared, and not of anything happening to him, but he was scared of Tony dying.

And sure they’ve said I love you and Tony can’t say he isn’t scared of Loki dying but it’s a little nerve racking to see it spelled out so plainly.

Mainly he just doesn’t want Loki to worry, because what can they do? Tony just wants them to be happy in the moment and come up with something to lighten his mood a little, maybe distract him from all of that for a bit.

“Tony?” Pepper says snapping him out of his thoughts.

“Huh?”

“You just signed that paper as Loki.”

Tony looks down to see that he did in fact right Loki’s name in place of his own in messy cursive.

“Hmm, Jarvis can you print out another copy?”

“Of course sir, it will be done in a minute.”

“Care to tell me why you just wrote his name? Unless it’s something to do with the bedroom in which case I really don’t want to know.”

Tony laughs slightly before answering, “No, no it’s not that, this time. We had a small, or maybe not so small problem yesterday and it’s still on my mind that’s all.”

“Want to talk about it?”

Taking a moment to think it over, Tony nods before starting. “Yesterday, or the lizard attack I guess, was the first time Loki really noticed I was mortal, or well not noticed just really thought of what that meant for us.”

“We got into a bit of a fight, which we later handled like mature adults I’ll have you know, and we got to a good spot but I’m still worried for him, I want to do something to lighten his mood a bit.”

Pepper takes a second to think this over before replying. “Well that’s not something I’ve had to deal with in a relationship before, though I can understand where Loki is coming from, as for what you should do, pick something you both enjoy, I’d go with something calm without any chance of danger so you can remind him of how good your time now is.”

“Pep you’re a genius I just got a stupidly romantic idea!” Tony gets up and pulls Pepper into a hug before pulling back and walking to the door.

“Seriously thank you, I picked the right person to talk to.”

“Tony.” Pepper says with an amused expression.

“Yeah?”

“I hate to say it, but you still need to sign those papers.”

Tony walks over to Loki’s room, dressed in his nicest jeans, a dark blue dress shirt and armed with a picnic basket, and knocks on the door.

“Come in.” Comes Loki’s reply through the door.

Tony opens the door and walks in, moving to stand closer to Loki who is reading a book on his arm chair.

“I hate to interrupt your Shakespeare, but if you’re not super busy I have something planned for this evening.”

At that Loki looks up from his book, first eyeing the basket before his eyes find Tony’s.

“I’d hate to ruin your plan.” He says getting up with a smile.

“Should I bring anything?”

“Just you.”

Tony leads Loki as they walk side by side through a park on the edge of the city as the sun starts to set, enjoying the cold evening breeze.

“I think this is the first “date” we’ve been on.” Loki says giving Tony a warm smile.

“Yeah took me long enough right, but here we are.”

“It’s been a long time since I’ve done something like this, I’ve missed it.”

“I bet you never had company as great as this though.” Tony replies shooting Loki a smirk.

Loki shakes his head with a smile as he says. “I’ve certainly never had company quite so unique Anthony.”

“Was that as insult Rudolph?” 

“Not in the slightest.” Loki replies with a small smile.

Tony looks around for a moment before stopping to declare, “This is the spot.”

Tony walks over to a small clearing a few meters away from the path before laying out a soft blanket he got from the basket, which he then places on the center of the blanket.

“Take a seat.” He says extending his arm down.

Loki rolls his eyes while failing to hide a smile before taking a seat.

Tony takes out a few candles and starts placing them around while saying, “Feel free to start getting some of the food out, I promise I didn’t make anything so it’s not poison.”

“I’d try to reassure you of your cooking but I believe that’s the one thing you’re not a genius at.” Loki replies while getting out some dishes along with some of the food.

“Alright now I just need the lighter.” Tony says coming back to the blanket.

“Allow me, you sit and pour me tea.”

“With pleasure Princess.” Tony says with a laugh as he takes a seat and starts reaching for the thermos but stops to watch Loki as he takes a quick glance around them to locate the candles before giving a small flick from his wrist.

Tony watches in awe as small strands of flame move from Loki’s fingertips and make their way to each candlewick, giving off a soft orange glow, Tony watches as the light from a nearby candle mixes with the emerald of Loki’s eyes.

Loki returns his gaze, giving him a soft, genuine small before saying, “Well I’m glad you enjoyed the show, but I do believe I asked for tea.”

“Wait, wait, how many times have you fooled Thor by turning into a snake?” Tony says through a fit of laughter as Loki recalls a story from his and his brother’s youth.

“You start to lose track after a few centuries, but I think it would be around thirty or so times before he stopped falling for it completely.” Comes Loki’s answer, amusement clear in his face and tone.

“Oh man I would have killed to have shape shifting when I was at MIT, specifically when me and Rhodey were in a heavy prank war.”

“Oh do tell.” Loki says leaning forward slightly.

“Alright well there were a lot, some way better than others, but I think one of my favourites has to be this.”

“Rhodes is a huge Coca Cola fend, he will drink three liters straight if left unsupervised, and when we had a big bottle in our fridge he’d put ice cubes in it. So me being the wonderful friend I am, bought mentos and froze them in the ice cubes. Now in case you don’t know, mentos are these small candies that when you mix them with soda they get this reaction that makes the drink go everywhere in a sticky foam that’s hell to clean up.”

“So there Rhodey was, happily drinking his coke, when all of a sudden it starts foaming everywhere and before long it was all over him! I knew it worked when I heard the loudest scream of surprise I’ve ever heard come from our living room. Oh boy I was laughing the whole time we cleaned the living room.”

Tony joins in Loki’s laughter as the story comes to a close, alcohol from a wine bottle Tony had brought loosening their reactions.

Tony presses his head into the crock of Loki’s head as he moves a little closer, taking advantage of their new spot against a large tree.

“Thank you for this Anthony, I needed it.” Loki says turning slightly so they’re facing each other once again.

“No problem Merlin, I hope you can see the beauty of now a little better.”

“I think I can, though I’d see it better if we did this.” Loki says before placing a hand on Tony’s check, pulling him closer until their lips join in a tender kiss.  
Tony sinks into the motion, letting his hands tangle in Loki’s soft hair as he moves so he’s more straddling the god than anything else to allow for more access.

They pull apart for a moment just long enough for Loki to say, “I love you Anthony.”

Tony mumbles the same as he pulls Loki back into a kiss.

They stay there lost in a spell for a few minutes, enjoying the familiar feel of the other’s skin against theirs before Tony pulls back barely an inch.

“I think we should take this back to the bedroom.”

Eyes alight with desire Loki replies, “I was about to suggest the very same thing.”

Tony sees the world start to blur as the pull of teleportation moves them to their room as he whispers another I love you to his god.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a little more of a filler but it's cute so I hope you liked it!
> 
> Thanks again to everyone leaving comments and kudos reading them always makes my day!


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi again! 
> 
> I am incredibly sorry for leaving this untouched for so long, and while I could write excuses at the end of the day it doesn't matter, that said I'm back in the writing grove! I have the next to chapters already written will be writing a lot more through the quarantine!
> 
> If anyone is still around and willing to keep reading this then thank you so much for your patience!   
All the kind words in the comments always make my day a million times better.
> 
> I've rambled enough so I hope you'll enjoy this chapter!

Loki wakes up from the best sleep he’s had all week, surprised to find Anthony already awake and lazily weaving his fingers through Loki's hair.

“I do believe this is the first time you’ve woken up before me.” Loki says while opening his eyes to greet Anthony with a smile.

“Well it is the first time I’ve seen you sleep in, so it’s not like I woke up early.” He replies shifting slightly to face Loki.

“I don’t sleep in.”

“Hate to break it to you but it’s almost nine.” Anthony returns with a playful grin.

Now that startles Loki enough to make a face Anthony finds delightfully amusing if his laugh is anything to go by.

“I guess I just wore you out last night.” Anthony says in a far too suggestive tone.

Loki just rolls his eyes before answering, “I think you’ll have to try a little harder before you can say you’ve worn me out in bed Stark.”

Anthony props himself up on one elbow before saying, “Is that a challenge?” with clear inspiration in his voice.

“It can be.”

“Oh you’re on reindeer games!” He says before tackling Loki into a kiss.

After taking a shower and finally getting dressed, Tony sits down to join Loki on the bed and switches on the tv to find something to watch.

“So we’ve decided to do nothing today then?” Loki says, raising an eyebrow.

“I think a little nothing will do us both some good.” 

Loki looks like he’s contemplating something for a moment before moving closer and saying, “I couldn’t agree more.” 

About thirty minutes later, once they’ve finally decided on what to watch, Jarvis speaks up though the PA system.

“Sorry to interrupt, but Miss Romanoff is requesting entry.”

“That’s alright J, Nat doesn’t usually interrupt unless it’s important, especially if there’s a change I’m naked with you.” Tony says shooting Loki a smile and catching his grin. “You can let her in.”

A few seconds later Natasha walks in, followed by what looks like the rest of the team.

“I didn’t know we were expecting this much company.” Loki says sitting up slightly straighter.

“Yeah well this is important.” Natasha replies.

“Should we suit up? I mean if it’s important enough to call the whole team in then surely- hey wait you guys forgot Steve and Barnes.”

“We didn’t forget actually.” Bruce says almost guiltily, which causes Tony to give a look of concern.

“Bruce don’t look so guilty,” Clint says, stepping forward. 

“The problem is that Steve and Bucky aren’t dating yet and their sexual tension is killing all of us and we need all the help we can get to make it happen.”

Loki starts laughing as Tony just gives a look of surprise.

“Oh come on don’t tell me you haven’t noticed? Even Thor noticed!” Nat says waving a hand in Thor’s direction.

Thor shrugs and replies, “I noticed quite a while ago actually.”

“I mean I’ve kind of been avoiding Barnes so I haven’t seen them together much, and definitely not enough to notice that.”

Clint looks at him almost disappointed before turning to Loki and saying, “Please tell me you’ve picked up on it? I mean you’ve spent a lot of time with them.”

“Oh of course I have, I just thought they’d already sorted it out.” Loki says shaking his head, “Anthony if you spend any time with them at all you’ll see it, and apparently they’re completely oblivious.”

“And that’s why we’re planning on setting them up.” Clint says with a grin.

“And potentially have a talk with Bucky about sexuality, because we know Steve has learned from us or maybe even done some research and is definitely okay with gay people, however I have no idea where Bucky stands unless Steve’s told him.” Bruce says.

“Bucky knows we’re together so he’s at the very least on board with the idea,” Loki starts with a nod towards Tony, “However there’s still the matter of making them see that they’re clearly in love.”

“Well I might not be Barnes’ best friend, but I want to see Steve happy, and frankly Barnes deserves some love too, so… Time to start operation Get Steve and Bucky to Kiss!” Tony says excitedly while standing up.

A few days later and Team Stucky, as Clint so proudly named them, much to the annoyance of just about everyone else, are gathered in the common room with a look of defeat.

“I can’t believe nothing’s worked.” Bruce says while sitting down.

“At this point I’m almost considering letting Loki use a love spell.” Thor says shaking his head, then when Loki opens his mouth he quickly adds, “I said almost.” To which Loki replies by rolling his eyes.

“You know how badly that ended the first time Loki.” 

“I remember it being a lot of fun.” Loki says with a self satisfied smirk.

“Lokes now I need to hear this.” Tony says, turning to face him as Thor sighs.

“Well in short, one day I found a love spell that would make whatever two people you want be madly in love with each other for a day, then once it wears off you’d return back to normal, but you’d remember that day very well. So naturally I used it on Thor and Sif, which was hilarious enough on its own, but when it wore off, Sif thought it was my brother's fault and spent the next few days trying to kill him in increasingly violent ways.”

At this point, aided by some visuals Loki was conjuring, everyone was laughing, including Thor, and if anyone else saw how Thor looked like a kid on Christmas morning when Loki said, “my brother,” no one mentioned it.

“I’ll admit it’s amusing looking back.” Thor says with a bright smile.

“Of course it is, that’s why I did it.” Loki returns, leaning back on the couch.

“As amazing as that story was,” Nat starts, “we need to figure out what to do with Steve and Bucky, because I saw them training earlier and they’re going to kill me. I’m honestly ready to side with Loki on the love spell front.”

“I knew I liked you for a reason Romanoff.” Loki says with a wink.

“Gah save that for Tony or I’m taking that back.” 

“Don’t worry Nat, he’s all mine.” Tony says with a wink.

“We’re already dealing with two in love idiots I can’t deal with more right now.”

“Okay okay we’ll stop, but you’re just jealous that we’re such a cute couple.” 

“No we’re really not.” Bruce says while shaking his head at Tony.

“Well we really do need to think of something.” Thor says steering the conversation back on track.

They keep talking for the rest of the evening until everyone starts trailing off for the night, and by the end Tony’s still not sure if they have a plan.

Steve turns around to face Bucky after taking a few steps away from the common room.

“Do you think we should tell them we’re dating?”

Bucky seems to think it over for a moment before shaking his head with a grin.

“I think we should let them figure it out.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was mainly what I hope was cute filler, but the plot will pick up and keep on coming when the next chapter hits, again thank you so much for your godlike patience.
> 
> Also if Steve x Bucky isn't your thing, then don't worry to much because it will stay a purely side relationship and will mainly appear in the form of jokes for a few quick scenes.


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You know this quarantine might actually be the best thing that could have happened to me writing wise.
> 
> We move into actual plot with this one, so I apologize if a lot of this is just talking or set up, but while we might know what an infinity stone is, and who Thanos is, the avengers at this point, do not.

Loki watches Anthony walk back into the workshop with a cup of coffee, while sitting at the workbench before asking.

“So what exactly is it you need my help with?”

“What makes you think I didn’t just want your handsome company?” He retorts while sitting down.

“If that’s all you wanted you would have asked me to come down without my clothes.” 

“Touche.” Anthony replies with a smile before continuing.

“Okay so I did actually want your help with something, I partially got the idea from our, well from our first big fight.”

“You’re right to a certain extent, I’m really dependent on the suit, and even if I dedicate the rest of my life to it, I’ll still never be as good or as strong as Steve, or even Natasha when it comes to combat, and I can’t just lug the suit around everywhere either.”

“So I want to make a nano tech suit that I can store in the reactor, that way I’ll always have it with me.” 

“While I think it’s a great idea,” Loki starts, “I don’t see why you need me if it’s not for the view.”

“Here’s the thing, while I’m sure with enough time and numerous attempts I could make this on my own, there’s still the chance of malfunctions or other problems, and I certainly don’t think magic is fool proof, but I wanted to ask if you could help me work some magic into the suit since it would definitely help the smoothness of the nano tech.”

“You said you want to store it in the reactor?” 

“Yep.”

“You’d let me alter the thing that’s keeping you alive with my magic?” Loki asks, looking at Anthony rather stunned, still not sure he’s hearing him correctly.

“Well yeah,” Anthony starts, his tone growing a bit more serious, “Loki I trust you with my life any day, and on top of that I love you, so yeah if you want to I’d love the help.”

Loki stays silent for a second dumbfounded by the sheer amount of trust Anthony is giving him, though considering how often he’s done it, and it’s a trust Loki returns, he really shouldn’t be surprised. 

His lips move to a soft smile before replying.

“I love you too, you know, and I’ll gladly help. Anyway, it’ll give me a chance to prove magic is better than technology.”

“Hold on now Princess, I think it’s a chance to prove the exact opposite.” He replies, the usual playfulness returning to his voice and features.

“A chance to work on something new and take a stab at your ego? When do we start?” Loki replies with a smirk.

“Game on Reindeer games, Jarvis cue the music, time to get to work.”

After about half an hour, they have a solid plan for at least the first attempt on the nano tech suit, and they’re about to get to work when Thor walks in.

“Loki I need to speak with you.” 

“Could this wait? We’re about to get started on the first attempt of this and I’m fairly sure I haven’t done anything horribly wrong recently.” 

Loki’s nonchalant face quickly fades when Thor remains stern and he shakes his head.

“It’s about the favour you asked me.”

Loki feels his blood run cold as he stands up to move closer to Thor.

“Has Heimdal seen something?”

“Yes, and I haven’t told anyone like you asked, but Loki, I think we should tell the team, it’s going to get serious soon.”

“Hold on, haven't told the team what?” Anthony says standing up and joining the conversation.

“I’ve told you some, and you’ll learn the rest now, Jarvis, can you call everyone to the common room, and tell them it’s urgent.” 

“With pleasure.”

After telling Anthony to wait a minute longer so he doesn’t have to repeat himself, and once everyone arrives and takes a seat in the common room, Loki takes a deep breath before starting.

“As you know I have something I need to tell all of you, this might take a moment, and my brother and Anthony already know at least some-”

“Oh my god you proposed to Tony! I’m so excited! Can I help plan the wedding!” Clint yells, cutting Loki off and gaining the attention of everyone in the room.

Loki turns to Anthony and shares a look before replying.

“No, I did not propose, you can sit down now.” 

Loki puts his hand over his head as he watches Clint sit back down looking genuinely disappointed.

Sighing, Loki starts again. 

“As I was saying, there’s no easy way to start so I’ll just jump in, before New York, I had a rather dramatic fall out on Asgard, I’ll spare you the details but the important part is I ended up falling through space, eventually landing in the hands of the person that commanded me to go to earth. Now isn’t the time to ponder whether or not it makes me less guilty of that so we’ll skip over it, however I wasn’t sent to earth simply to rule, that was supposed to be my reward for a job well done.”

Loki takes a second to collect his thoughts before continuing.

“As you know I was sent here to collect the tesseract as you call it, however what you don’t know is that the tesseract and my scepter, or specifically the gem inside it, are two of the six Infinity Stones.”

“I’m sorry but what exactly is an Infinity stone?” Bruce asks, looking like he’s trying very hard to process everything.

Thor steps in then to explain, “They’re six stones that were created when our universe was, they each hold immense power relating to a different aspect of existence.”

Loki flicks his wrist bringing to life an illusion of the six stones and highlighting each in turn, “Space, or as you know it, the tesseract, Mind, which is housed in the scepter, Reality, Power, Time, and Soul.”

Loki takes another pause before finally saying, “Here’s where the danger comes in, the man who held me captive and sent me to earth is known as the Mad Titan, or Thanos, his plan is to collect all six stones and wipe out half of all life in the universe.”

A small silence forms among the group before Steve speaks up, “When you say wipe out-”

“I mean kill. He means to kill half the population of the universe, and has done so on numerous planets already, except those weren’t simply snapped away, they were a massacre.”

The silence returns to the group as they let the weight of that settle in.

After a moment Thor speaks up, “However all this background isn’t why we needed you all here.”

“Shortly after Loki first moved in, he filled me in some and asked to get a friend of ours on Asgard to monitor Thanos and inform me if he started another move to get the Stones, Tony when you blew up the Chitauri you took out a huge amount of his forces, buying some time before he could make another move.”

“Now it seems our time is up.” 

Thor takes a breath before continuing, “Heimdal informed me that Thanos has acquired the reality stone, and will very soon go for the power stone.”

Loki doesn’t register that his hands have curled into fists or that he’s shaking slightly until Anthony leans closer and starts rubbing small circles on his back.

Loki starts to calm down again as Natasha asks, “So what’s our plan of action?”

“I have a few suggestions,” Loki says, looking up to face the room at large, “They all end with Thanos dead, however the priority has to be stopping him from getting all the stones, and considering we have two at relatively easy access, I think we make sure it stays that way, and try to beat Thanos to the other ones.”

“The scepter's with Shield so we can get that anytime.” Clint says.

“And we sent the Tesseract to Asgard, so that’s safe,” Bruce adds, “Though if we know he’s going after the Power stone, should we try to do something about that?”

“Yes, however we’d need a way to travel through space for that, which we’d need to get-” Loki starts but doesn’t get to finish when Anthony jumps out of his seat.

“If we’re going to space I call dibs! I don’t care if I get a heart attack from looking out the window if anyone’s going on an advanced spaceship I’m going!”

Loki smiles at his excitement and pure glee.

“Spaceships? And I remember when I thought a floating car was magic.” Bucky says, his voice seeming like he didn’t even know he was voicing that allowed, and Loki catches that Steve sends him the same smile Loki had given Anthony a moment sooner.

Thor then speaks up again. “We’d need to go to Asgard to get a ship, and we could check on the tesseract while there.” 

“Then I guess we’re going to Asgard.” Loki says, not sure if he’s terrified of the idea, or surprisingly at least a little happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted to clear up something about the location of the stones in this fic, because as you read, Thanos got the reality stone without going to earth, without Thor the Dark world happening.
> 
> That's because I will be moving the stones as I see fit, and just how I made Peter Civil war age in 2012, I might move the order of events a little too.
> 
> Thank you again to everyone leaving comments and kudos, it really does brighten my day.


	7. Chapter 7

Tony meets with everyone on the roof of the tower just about jumping with excitement.

“There you are.” Loki says, taking a step towards him and meeting his gaze with a smile.

“Nice to see the old get up again, I have to say I missed the leather.” Tony replies admiring the armor Loki had when he first came to earth.

“I figured I’d wear it again for Asgard, and it offers more protection than jeans.”

Tony laughs at that before asking, “So who else is coming to Asgard?” 

“Steve and Bucky, if that’s alright with you.” Loki says holding his gaze.

Tony thinks for a second before replying. “Yeah it is, my feelings towards Barnes are more scrambled than the eggs I had for breakfast, but he’s a great fighter and there really isn’t anything to forgive all things considered, plus he looks almost as excited as me.”

At that both Barnes and Steve walk over.

“Hey.” Steve says, greeting them with a smile.

Barnes looks unsure of what to say or where to look so Tony makes the first move.

“Hey guys, everyone ready to travel through space fast enough to give everyone at NASA a heart attack?”

“I’m still amazed that spaceships have been invented here, let alone going to the moon.” Barnes says with genuine awe, taking the verbal branch Tony had extended.

“Yeah it’s pretty impressive when you think about it, granted not to our two resident gods but- Hey where is Thor anyway?” Tony replies, turning to Loki at the end.

As if on cue, Thor arrives on the roof.

“Are you all ready?” Thor asks, show off flew when there was a perfectly fine elevator.

“Wait while we’re on the big space adventure, what’s everyone else going to do?” Tony asks, looking over at Loki.

“Right I forgot to tell you, I know there’s another stone on earth, where I don’t know, however it has a similar energy then that of the tesseract, so I asked Bruce to locate, and if possible collect it. While everyone else helps him if needed and gets everyone we know ready for what’s to come.” 

“Bruce should be able to track that no problem, and I made a list earlier of possible allies that Jarvis should be able to give them.” Tony says before turning to Thor and saying, “Alright big guy are we good to go?”

“I believe so.” Thor says, turning to look at each member of the group.

“Promise they won’t throw me jail brother?” Loki says with a smirk that does a terrible job at hiding his nerves.

Tony moves closer and grabs his hand while Thor replies. “I promise, they’ll have to get through me if they try.” 

“And us.” Steve adds while Barnes nods.

“It goes without saying that I’ll kick some Asgardian ass if I have to.” Tony adds, squeezing Loki’s hand tightly for a moment.

“Thank you.” Loki says with earth shatteringly genuine gratitude on his face.

“Then what are we waiting for?” Loki says, his expression returning to that of his emotion concealing smirk.

Then within seconds Thor calls down the Bifrost and Tony watches as it engulfs them.

Loki feels the familiar pull of the Bifrost around him as they’re pulled through space.

He turns and sees as Anthony's face moves from one of slight fear, to awe and wonder.

He turns, meeting Loki’s gaze and smiles, the look of amazement never leaving his eyes.

“These are more colours than I’ve ever seen, next time Bruce has to come, he’ll lose his mind with all this! And I swear I can see stars behind the colours.” 

Loki just smiles back as he turns to look around them again, swallowing the memories that threaten to surface from when he fell, instead choosing to focus on the wonder his lover described.

Because the Bifrost truly is beautiful, it’s a whirlwind of colours, hues shifting from bright blues and purples to oranges and reds, and how Anthony said, through it all you can see the shapes and brightness radiating off other star systems, almost as if they were behind stained glass of ever changing colour. 

However the trip doesn’t last long and as they’re reunited with reality, the pit of dread in Loki’s stomach returns in full force, despite the hand still entwined with Anthony’s.

“Greetings.” Heimdall says with a smile to Thor, and a nod with a cautious look in Loki’s direction.

“Heimdall it’s good to see you! Even if it is in dire circumstances.” Thor replies, returning the smile.

Thor then turns to face the rest of the group.

“These are three of my friends and teammates, Tony Stark, or Iron man, Steve Rogers, Captain America, and Bucky Barnes.” 

Heimdall nods before turning to Bucky.

“No title?”

“I had one, I’d rather not use it.” Bucky replies, standing strong despite the reminder of his past with hydra through the winter soldier.

“Fair enough, however you’re not here to talk about your names, Thor, Loki, you know the way, the King and Queen are expecting you.”

They’re a little past halfway to the throne room now, and so far Loki has found the visit to actually be going slightly better than he thought it would, and at the very least, none of the guards have rushed him yet, so he’ll take it.

Then a voice he’d recognize anywhere snaps him out of his thoughts.

“Loki! Thor!”

Stopping in his tracks he looks up to see his mother racing down the upcoming steps towards them.

He thinks he hears Anthony ask him something he can’t hear as Frigga comes closer, and to Loki’s surprise, runs straight past Thor and pulls him into a hug.

For a moment all he can do is stand there in shock, but after that moment he lets Anthony’s hand go and hugs his mother back with an urgency he’d been denying himself.

It’s not that he’s completely forgiven Frigga, after all she could have told Loki the truth at any point through the years and didn’t, the betrayal he feels doesn’t spare her, but of all his family, she’s the one who’s shown him the most compassion and love, maybe Thor was higher up the list than he originally thought, but she’s always been there, and when the truth was finally unveiled, she did make a point to say she thought of him as her son.

It’s then that he hears the shaky breaths coming from Frigga and she tries to hold back tears.

“You’ve come home.”

“I have. At least for a time.” Loki replies letting his grip loosen as they both take a small step back.

And the smile on his mother's face is almost enough to break him where he stands.

“I came as soon as I heard, when- when we lost you I didn’t think I’d ever see you again, and then everything that happened on earth.” She pauses straightening slightly, smile never wavering, before saying. “Well that’s a tale you’ll have to tell me while you’re here, for now I’m just happy you’re back.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t come sooner, I missed you.” Loki replies, holding her gaze with a tentative smile, still not fully believing that’s all she has to say on the matter of the crimes he committed on earth, let alone on Asgard.

“I missed you too.” Frigga replies softly before turning to Thor.

“Of course I missed you as well.” 

“It’s good to see you again mother.”

Then she turns to see the rest of the group.

“Now how about you introduce me to your friends, you can save the formalities, I’m sure Odin will want enough of that for the both of us.”

Loki speaks up then. “On the left is Steve Rogers, then Bucky Barnes, and next to me is Anthony Stark.”

The three of them say hello in one way or another before Frigga continues.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all, but I shouldn't stall you any longer, I’ll walk with you, Odin wants to see you.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I loved writing the scene between Loki and Frigga, and I hope I captured their relationship well, it's one dynamic I don't have much to reference from in the movies.
> 
> Also I'm starting online school next week so I won't have as much free time, however I'll still make time to write because I've gotten back in the grove.
> 
> Comments and kudos make my day like nothing else so thank you to everyone leaving them!


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking a little longer to post, but here's the next chapter, this actually ended up being almost twice the next of the usual chapters, so yay!

They finally enter the throne room, after walking through one too many hallways, and an impractical amount of staircases, that while Tony certainly found them beautiful, they were in all honesty a little much once the initial awe wore off.

That mixed with the fact that walking up to the throne next to Loki felt more like walking to the gallows than to someone's father, gave Tony a sense of unease despite Frigga’s calming presence. And while Tony’s only known her a very short time, he can see why Loki has always spoken of her fondly despite everything that’s happened with his family.

They finally get to where Thor deems is close enough to the imposing throne, with an equally imposing man sitting atop it, to stop. For a short moment there’s an awkward silence hanging in the air before Thor speaks up.

“Greetings father.” He says with a smile, one that to his credit, wouldn’t look stressed if you didn’t know him.

“Thor.” Odin replies, no fake smile on his face, then with a look Tony can’t quite make out he says, “Loki, I can’t say I expected to see you return, even when Heimdal told me of the threats to come after his last meeting with Thor.”

“Yes well, I was expecting a warmer welcome.” Loki replies with a coolness revealing nothing of his actual thoughts, he wouldn’t even look concerned, if it wasn’t for the hand entwined with his own that’s holding on slightly tighter.

“It’s a warm enough welcome considering you’re not in chains.”

Tony is about to speak up in Loki’s defense, with words that probably wouldn’t be considered appropriate when speaking to a king, when Frigga interjects.

“Thor, Loki, why don’t you introduce our guests.”

That seems like enough of a distraction for now, as Thor replies.

“Yes of course, these are three of my close friends and teammates, Captain America, Bucky Barnes, and Iron Man, They’re well respected among their people and myself, so I ask you to show them the same respect you’d show any of our warriors.”

The fact that Thor had to tell his royalness to show them respect, paired with how he spoke to Loki earlier, told Tony all he needed to know about this man, and that the rest of this conversation wasn’t going to be easy.

And low and behold, he was right, Mr I’m In Charge, didn’t do anything to improve his impression on Tony, in fact he made it worse, and by the end he had to force himself to shut up to avoid more confrontation with the man, and Tony could tell Loki was doing the very same thing, but after a conversation that felt longer than all of Fury’s meetings combined, they got what they wanted, a ship to use tomorrow, a place to stay for tonight free of restrictions, Loki included, and a promise that when the need arouse, they could count on Asgard's armies when the time came to face Thanos.

And finally they were dismissed, and Tony could feel everyone relax once they were out of the throne room, Loki in particular.

“Well, if I ever think it’s a good idea to speak to him again, please just kill me, it would be kinder.” Loki says with a sigh.

“Yeah, I think I’d rather deal with an angry Fury.” Steve replies somewhat sheepishly.

“And I thought my daddy issues were bad, at this point I’m not sure which is worse, him or Howard.” Tony says with a slight laugh, looking towards Loki.

“That would be a close match.”

Just then they turn at the sound of the door opening, relieved to find Frigga walking through the doors and not Odin.

“Well I can’t say that was pleasant,” She says shaking her head and walking closer. 

“It’s late afternoon by now, you must all be tired, or at least tired from your armour, why don’t I show you to your rooms for tonight, you’ll find clothes there if you’d like to change.”

Everyone voices their agreement, and with Loki walking beside his mother, they follow the queen up to their rooms.

They arrive at their rooms, and Loki’s pleased to see they’ll be staying in the same corridor that his and Thor’s respective rooms are on.

When Frigga shows Anthony his room, Loki speaks up.

“He can stay with me.” 

She raises an inquisitive eyebrow, and the corners of her mouth pick up before she replies.

“Of course, I trust you remember how to summon up new clothes, that armour doesn’t look terribly comfortable.”

“You get used to it, but I could use a change of clothes.” Anthony replies with a smile.

“I haven’t forgotten, you made it very hard to forget any of your spells.” Loki says with a grin.

“Well then I was a very good teacher wasn’t I? I’ll leave you be now, feel free to look around, if you need anything you can ask one of the servants, or have one of my sons ask for me.”

Loki almost corrects her, but by then she’s already walking away, and it seems trivial to stop her for that, and frankly he’s not so sure he’d have the heart to.

Instead he turns to Anthony and says. “Come, let's get into some fresh clothes, there’s a few things I want to show you after.”

After changing into new clothes, jeans, a shirt and a light sweater for Tony, and an elegant tunic and overcoat for Loki, which he guesses is what his casual wear on Asgard would be, Tony follows Loki down through the palace, sharing a comfortable silence for the first time since they’ve been on Asgard aside from a few comments on different things they’ve passed, when Tony finally voices a question he’s had since they set out.

“I know you want this to be a surprise, but can I at least have a hint of where we’re going?”

“The final destination, no. However we’re almost at the first.” Loki says, turning a corner and gesturing to the building in front of them.

“I hope you know how to ride, or at the very least I hope you’ve seen a horse in person before.” 

It’s then that Tony realizes they’re in front of a stable.

“Umm about that, the only horses I’ve seen have been on tv, but as long as you weren’t planning to go racing, I’m sure I can figure it out.”

Tony pauses then, remembering something he’d learned when he was first researching Loki.

“And I really wouldn’t have thought you’d want me to meet an old ex of yours tonight.” Tony says with a barely concealed grin.

“Meet an ex? What are you-” Loki stops in his tracks and turns around with a heavy sigh.

“Not that myth again, surely you know that’s not true, why would I even- no I refuse to argue about that.” Loki says, then once he sees Tony’s expression quickly adds. “And I swear if you mention that more while we’re riding you’ll be sleeping in the guest room.”

Tony laughs at that, quickly stopping when Loki glares at him again.

“Guest room.”

“Okay okay! I won’t bring up the horse myth again.” He replies through a grin.

Loki glares back, even if the glare has no weight behind it, before turning back towards two of the horses.

When both horses are ready to go, Loki leads them outside to the start of a path before saying.

“Need a hand getting up?”

“Excuse you I’m not that short.” Tony replies while walking up to the horse.

“Hey there big guy, you’re not going to throw me off are you?” Tony asks, and to no one's surprise, the horse just ignores him.

Then with a bit of a struggle while figuring out where to put his feet, he manages to get on board the saddle.

He looks up then to see Loki gracefully swing into the saddle and look back with a smirk.

“Show off.” 

Loki grins before turning his horse towards a path in front of them.

“Come on, I want to get there by sunset.” 

He starts trotting forward, looking back briefly to laugh at Tony as he finally manages, with zero instructions mind you, to get his horse to follow behind. 

After a few mishaps, and after Loki finally offered some kind of instruction as to how to ride a horse, the ride to wherever Loki was taking them went smoothly, they went slowly through a forest with the sound of nature surrounding them, it was incredibly peaceful and Tony couldn’t have pictured a better way to relax after the long meeting with Odin, and he imagines that’s at least part of the reason Loki chose to do this.

The sun is just starting to set when they arrive, and now Tony can see it’s a garden, and damn if it isn’t the most beautiful place he’s ever seen.

Loki slows his horse to a stop before elegantly getting off and walking over to him and extending a hand.

With a sigh Tony decides it’s probably for the best if he accepts the help and with Loki’s support he gets off the horse without a hitch.

Loki ties the horses to a nearby tree and says.

“This is it.” 

“It’s beautiful.” Tony replies, turning to face him with a smile.

Because it truly is, there’s a small pond in the middle and even from here he can see the vague shapes of fish swimming through it, and all around there’s different shades of green and brown, accented by the bright colours of different flowers scattered around.

“What is this place?” He asks, following Loki as he starts to move towards the pond.

“It’s simply a garden, nothing special about it in nature, however I used to come here with my mother often as a child, sometimes more recently before everything. It’s one of my favourite places on Asgard.”

“Thank you for sharing it with me.” Tony replies, taking a seat next to Loki on the small stone bench overlooking the pond.

“I wouldn’t want to share it with anyone else, besides, I owed you a date.” Loki replies with a smile, pausing for a moment before continuing.

“And I wanted to thank you for earlier, I’m not sure how well I would have held my tongue without you there, and don’t think I didn’t notice how you spoke up in my defense a few times.”

“There’s no need to thank me Reindeer games. You would have done the same, and frankly I was biting my tongue half the time because I didn’t want to make things worse.”

“Still, coming here wasn’t easy, and I’m still not sure how I feel about it all, Odin was pretty much what I expected, but my- Frigga was. Frigga forgave me.” By the end of that sentence Loki sounds completely lost, and it breaks Tony’s heart.

He inches closer and brings an arm behind Loki’s back and leans his head on his shoulder before replying.

“I might not know her very well, and I know my family situation is vastly different from yours, but if I remember anything about my mom, it’s that when Howard would yell at me until he ran out of air, she’d always try to help after, yeah maybe to little to late at times but she still cared, and if Frigga is anything like that, then I think it was never really a decision to forgive you, if anything I think she just missed you.”

Loki wraps his arm around Tony this time.

“Thank you Anthony, I- That helped.”

After a short pause Loki turns his head and places a hand delicately on Tony’s cheek, angles them so their lips can meet.

It’s one of the softest kisses they’ve shared, and it feels intimate on a level he’s not sure he’s felt before, save when Loki comforted him after he learned what happened to his parents, except now the roles have been reversed in a sense.

They pull apart for just a moment before Tony turns his body slightly to get a better angle, before resuming the kiss, deepening it as he leans closer to Loki.

It’s then in that beautiful garden that Tony realizes one of his favourite things about their relationship, and it’s simply how they can communicate a thousand words through a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I also made some art for the end of this one!
> 
> You can find it here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B-z6s3WJpea/?igshid=1rqqo1379lqgt


	9. Chapter 9

The next morning starts off rather slow, but that’s far from a bad thing, after waking up in Loki’s arms, and then having breakfast with the team and Frigga, who Tony decides he likes very much, especially if you compare her to Odin, they’re now following Thor down to where they keep the ships.

Apart from wanting to tear the ships apart to see how they work, and the sheer overwhelming fact that, holy shit Tony Stark is going to fly in a spaceship that can move a hundred times faster than anything on earth! There’s the tiniest part of him that’s sad to see not one ship looks like the Millennium Falcon.

That part of his brain quickly shuts up though when they stop at the ship they’ll be flying.

“Thor buddy, you’ve always been one of my favourites, please let me fly the ship!” Tony says, bringing his hands together at the end.

Thor gives him a teasing smile before replying. “I’ll think about it.” 

Tony huffs and crosses his arms in mostly mock annoyance.

“Fine, think about it, I’ll think about it the next time you ask me to buy pop tarts.” 

Thor just laughs before walking to the ship. 

The ship itself is a standard Asgardian ship by the look of it, but is no less very beautiful and no doubt incredibly technologically advanced. It has a sleek arrow dynamic design, helping the speed, and the style seems to take after Asgard with gold colouring the majority of the exterior.

Pretty gold aside though Tony can’t wait to see how this thing flies, it’ll likely be unlike anything he’s ever seen before and if they didn’t have to fly on it in a few minutes, he’d be ripping it apart and attacking Loki with questions about how everything works.

“My my Anthony, if I didn’t know better I’d say you’re more in love with that ship than you are with me.” Loki says with a smirk while tilting his head towards him.

“Now Princess you know you’re the only magic space thing for me, though once I see how this works I might need to ask if you’d be okay with me having a mistress.”

“I think you might have to compete with Barnes for that right.” Loki replies, nodding his head in his direction.

Tony looks over and Barnes does indeed look just as amazed with the ship as he does.

It’s then that Thor comes back.

“Everythings ready to go.” 

“Is everyone ready?” Steve starts, “Assuming we’re heading for the stone at the same time that Thanos is, we might have to face him.” 

“We know, I just hope that if we do I’ll have the chance to drive a dagger through his skull.” Loki replies, and Tony gets the feeling that Loki said it more to give himself confidence than to reassure the team. Loki then takes a step towards the ship, “Shall we get going?”

That’s all Loki needs to say before Tony’s racing up the ramp and heading straight for the cockpit.

Loki sits in the ship as it travels through the stars.

There’s no doubt a breathtaking view outside, a sight that’s beautiful even through the memories of his fall, but despite that, all Loki can look at is his mortal.

And really, it’s a far more beautiful sight.

Anthony switches from looking out the window to looking at any exposed part of the ship he can find in the blink of an eye, his face moving from a look of awe mixed with what Loki can only guess is fear, to one of fascination and the cleverness of his mind trying to figure out the technology.

“You know, this ship is essentially functioning though the same principles as the new suit we’re trying to make.” Loki says, gaining Anthony’s full attention.

“Wait really?” 

“While the technology is much further along than that of your ships on earth, it’s quite possible it has physics applied to it that no one on earth has discovered yet, however at its core it’s technology working alongside magic.”

“Hmm, when we get back to Asgard, do you think there’s any chance we could look at the ship's parts? Maybe do a little reverse engineering? You know, for research for the suit.” 

“That’s as good an excuse as any, I’m sure if we ask Frigga she’ll let us look at one of the ships.” Loki replies.

“Yes!” Anthony shouts, pumping his fist in the air with excitement matching his smile.

Loki just rolls his eyes with a smile at his lover’s glee.

It’s then that the moment is interrupted when Thor calls from the cockpit.

“We’re getting close.” 

Loki stands up then, moving to look through the window at the front, only for his attention to be pulled towards a blinking light on the control panel.

“Thor?”

“I see it.” He looks closer at the source of the light before saying.

“We’re picking up a transmission.”

“Are we going to answer it?” Anthony says, joining them in the cockpit, quickly followed by Steve and Bucky.

“I suppose so.” Loki replies.

Thor nods and answers the transmission.

A male voice is the first thing they hear, saying something that immediately puts them on edge.

“Anyone planning on going to Xandar should turn back now! It’s been destroyed and the area around it isn’t safe.”

The team look around at each other, sharing worried looks as they jump to the same conclusion. 

They were too late, and Thanos already has the power stone.

Still, Loki wants to know a little more about the person who sent the transmission, mainly if they’re friend or foe, or if they could be of use.

Anthony seems to have thought the same because he turns on the com link, how he figured that out in the few hours they’ve been aboard the ship Loki can’t say, connecting them to the transmission sender before saying.

“We’d still like to take a look, unless you have a problem with that?” 

“We’re not trying to threaten you, we’re putting out a warning that if you like being alive, you should turn back.”

It’s a female voice that responds, a somewhat cold one, and it’s a voice Loki recognizes well.

“Gamora?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Shorter than normal chapter but it felt like a good place to leave off.
> 
> Thank you again to everyone leaving comments and kudos, it makes my day and adds a ton of motivation.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for taking forever and making a small cliffhanger last much longer than needed, online school has been killing me.
> 
> Also I'm adding some clarifications for the timeline in this fic in the end notes, and in case even with that the time frame isn't clear, feel free to ask, but I don't think it's too confusing.

Tony thought the moments that followed the transmission were chaotic even by his standards.

Firstly, the second Loki realized he apparently knew the person talking, Tony had to all but tackle him to stop him from teleporting straight to the other ship, which was starting to come into view.

Then the person who had spoken, Gamora was it? Started shouting, seeming just as surprised to hear Loki, as Loki was to hear her.

There were then some words thrown around suggesting both parties involved were working for Thanos, which led to a lot of yelling and yet another attempt to teleport.

A lot of accusatory yelling later, that really only took place between Loki and Gamora, has them standing on a planet not too far from Xandar so they can talk it out like civilized adults.

And honestly Tony thinks he deserves a medal for not laughing at the situation, because even if he had any ideas for what the other crew would look like, he would be dead wrong.

Standing in front of him is a man who at the very least looks human with short light brown hair and a leather jacket, a tall green woman who would give Pepper and Natasha a run for their money on terrifying stares, a shirtless bald man with more muscle definition than Steve, a damn Raccoon, and a tiny tree with a face.

Tony’s about to open his mouth to start a nice civil conversation off, when Loki beats him to it.

“Long time no see Gamora, in truth I’m surprised you're not off helping destroy Xandar at that monsters side.”

Well there goes civil.

“And last I looked you were nothing more than his errand boy.” 

The brown haired man speaks up, thankfully before Loki can retort anything.

“Okay why doesn’t everybody just calm down, I’m sure we could all use some explanations.” 

Tony has to hand it to the guy, he barely flinched at Gamora’s glare from saying calm down, barely.

“Why don’t we start with an introduction, then we can deal with how you two know each other.” Steve replies nodding at the man.

The man stands a bit straighter before starting.

“We’re The Guardians of the Galaxy.” 

Tony’s about to interrupt by laughing, but The Avengers really isn’t too much better.

“I’m Peter Quill, or Starlord,” He continues, pointing to each person in turn. “And here’s Drax, Rocket, and Groot, the angry one’s Gamora.” 

“I know who she is.” Loki replies coldly.

Before anyone gets a chance to reply, Steve picks up.

“Good to meet you, we’re The Avengers, or part of the team anyway. I’m Steve Rogers, or Captain America, this is Thor, Bucky Barnes, Tony Stark or Iron Man, and Loki.”

“Right, now that everyone knows everybody, care to explain why you think we’re working for Thanos?” Tony pipes in then, thinking it’s as good a time as any.

“Simple, I was on the ship when Loki was sent away by Thanos to retrieve the space stone, he seemed loyal then and I have no reason to believe otherwise.” Gamora replies.

“To be fair, you weren’t exactly on the ship as a prisoner.” Rocket adds, which is interesting, seeing as Tony wasn’t sure he could speak.

“I obeyed to get away, in case you don’t know, he lost both the space and mind stone thanks to me, and due to a very well planned terrible plan, he lost the vast majority of his Chitauri army.” 

Loki replies with no small amount of pride.

“Now why don’t you tell everyone else why exactly you would have seen me on that ship to begin with.”

Gamora takes a breath, probably more to keep from punching Loki than to calm down, before starting her explanation.

“Thanos is my father, adoption isn’t what I’d call it but it’s the closest term, I was just as much a victim as you judging by how much time you spent with Ebony Maw, I realized I had to leave, do some damage to him if I could in the process, not long after I fell in with them.” She nods at the rest of her team at the end.

There’s an uncomfortable if not tense feel in the air before Loki speaks up breaking the tension with a few simple words.

“I’m glad you left.” 

“Good to see you got away too.”

“Alright just so we’re clear,” Rocket starts, “Everybody here wants Thanos dead?”

Everyone voices their agreement and shortly after Barnes speaks up.

“Maybe we can help each other.”

Loki stands a ways off from the rest of the group.

After they’d established they were on the same side, they discussed both their plans for ending Thanos, and shortly after realizing The Avengers have two infinity stones at the ready, with a third on earth, working together on Loki’s plan seemed like a decently good idea.

That’s how they got the Guardians promise for support on earth when they need it for the inevitable fight against Thanos.

With the important part settled there was something else Loki needed to discuss with Gamora while Anthony and the rest set up a reliable form of communication for when they were back on earth.

“You wanted to ask me about something?” Gamora questions, bringing Loki back into the present.

“Yes, I’m glad to see you got away from the titan, it didn’t take much to notice your dejection at his side, however I am curious as to where Nebula ended up?”

While Loki had known Gamora from his time with Thanos, he was closer to Nebula, finding slightly more in common there, not as far as to call her a friend, but he would like to know where she ended up.

Gamora looks at the ground briefly before responding.

“She got away from him too, though not as smoothly, we fought her while defending both Xandar and the power stone from Ronan, you might remember, he worked for Thanos, either way she has just as much hatred for Thanos as we do, maybe more, but as of now she wants to kill me, so an alliance isn’t to likely at the moment.”

“Well that’s… Not entirely unexpected.” Loki replies, some disappointment seeping through.

He’d hoped Nebula would join them, surely if anyone deserves a change at Thanos it’s her.

“Still, she definitely wants him dead, if you run into her again try to tell her about our plan between blows, she just might agree.”

Gamora cracks the barest hint of a smile before replying, “I’ll be sure to try.”

“Hey Lokes! We’re just about ready to head back and we don’t want to waste any more time on finding the stones.” Anthony calls then, waving them both back over.

“Lokes?” Gamora asks with a raised eyebrow.

Loki just sighs. “It’s not the worst name he’s come up with.”

Gamora gives him a strange look for a moment.

“I’m glad you found each other, I bet he’s even more of a pain than Peter is.” She says with a nod in said man’s direction before walking back to the group.

Loki stands behind her for a moment before smiling slightly and rejoining the group as well.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright the timeline.
> 
> Sort of how I put Peter Parker in the first story at the same age/development as he was in Civil War into 2012, I've done the same thing with guardians.
> 
> Basically for them they've finished Gotg 1 let's say a few months ago, except obviously the destruction of Xandar from infinity war is happening much sooner.
> 
> If anyone has any questions about how this is working or how this might change anything feel free to ask, and once again thank you to everyone leaving comments and kudos, they brighten my day and add a lot of motivation!


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally another update!

The flight back from Xander, or what’s left of it anyways, seems to feel shorter than the flight there.

After deciding there was nothing left on the ship he could examine without taking it apart, Tony opted to simply sit and look out a window since Thor still refuses to let him drive.

Then Tony feels Loki sit down next to him and turns to face him as Loki speaks.

“How do you like the view?” 

“Not bad, a little pale though.” Tony jokes.

Loki lets out a small chuckle before Tony continues.

“It’s actually pretty amazing, the only times I’ve looked at space have been from inside the Iron man suit, and both times weren’t exactly the nicest for sightseeing, with the risk of dying and all that. So being able to sit back and look at stars from galaxies I didn’t know existed until today is sort of breathtaking.”

Loki nods in response, “No matter how many times I see them, the stars never seem to lose their appeal.”

They sit like that for a few minutes, simply enjoying the others presence as they watch the stars go by until Tony breaks the silence.

“So, how do you feel after that surprise reunion?”

Loki seems to think for a moment before answering.

“Good I think, I wouldn’t say I was friends with Gamora before, but it’s comforting to know she got away from him, and having seen her in combat, I’m quite glad to have her on our side.”

“Yeah she looked like she could pack a punch, I can’t wait for her to meet Nat.”

“Now that will be a day of reckoning to be sure.”

They both laugh lightly at the idea before returning to a small silence.

“What’s the plan for when we get back to Asgard then? Return the ship and straight back to earth, or party for a few days?”

“As much as I’d love to say and show you around, I believe we should head back as soon as we can, we need to finish your new suit and find the time stone as soon as possible especially since he’s gotten the power stone already.

Though I’m sure it would be fine if we stayed for the night, we can head back in the morning,” Loki adds when he sees the slight look of disappointment on Tony’s face.

“If we’re staying there for the night, any chance we have time to look at one of these ships more closely?”

Loki shakes his head in amusement before answering.

“Anthony Stark are you simply using me for my technology?”

“How dare you! That’s my signature line!” Tony replies through a smile that he sees mirrored on his lover’s face.

“Yes, we’ll have more than enough time to take apart one of the ships, I also want to see if we have anything in the library I can take with us on joining technology and magic.”

“That’d be great, because as it stands right now, we still need some help if we want it to run smoothly.”

“Seeing as it’s main job is to keep you alive, I’d say it’s fairly important for it to work as intended.”

“Aww you really do care.” Tony replies, getting only an eye roll back.

Loki walks through the palace on his way to the library after helping Anthony thoroughly examine one of the ships, to meet with his mother to get the books she found on combining magic and technology.

It’s strange in a way how normal it feels to walk through these halls again after everything that happened since the time he raced through them towards the bifrost.

Loki wouldn’t go as far as to call it home, not again and certainly not after spending so long at Avengers Tower with what’s become far more preferable company, yet there’s a familiarity to this place that allows him to travel to the library with ease.

Once inside Frigga waves him over with a smile almost immediately and he takes a seat across from her at the table.

“Thor told me what happened to Xander when you came back, I’m sorry for what happened, yet I must admit I am happy to know you both made it back safe and without bloodshed.”

“It’s certainly terrible he got the stone before we did, however the trip did prove useful, Thor might have told you who we ran into.”

“He did, though it seems you know more about our new allies than he does.”

Loki nods in agreement, “Yes, I knew Gamora long before Thor, still that’s not what we met to discuss.”

“You’re quite right.” Frigga says as she reaches into a bag she brought and pulls out a book.

“This should have all you need to get started on your partner’s new suit, and if you need further help, don’t hesitate to ask.”

He takes the book and smiles back, “Thank you.”

Loki pauses to take a breath before asking after one last thing.

“Did you get the other thing I asked for?”

Frigga nods, “I did, I must say when you first asked I was surprised to say the least, but after spending some time with him, well I can see why you like him, and it’s clear as day he adores you in turn.”

Loki is surprised to find he feels heat rush to his cheeks at that.

Frigga reaches back into her bag and pulls from it a golden apple, an apple none other than one from the tree of Idun, apples that hold the very secret to the gods immortality or at least prolonged life, apples that when consumed by a mortal, turn them immortal as well.

“I hope he accepts this gift, and that you both may have long joy filled lives yet, it doesn’t take much to see you’re good for each other, and I hope you’re able to find a warmer home with him than you had here.” She says with a soft smile, one that turns slightly sad at the end.

“Thank you mother.” Loki replies with a genuine, if slightly hesitant smile, before taking the apple and placing it in his pocket dimension alongside the book.

Loki stands to leave then, not certain what to do or say.

He manages to take a step before she turns him around and pulls him into a hug.

“Say goodbye to your mother before leaving at least. You’d think I didn’t teach you any manners.” He hears her say as he blinks back the few tears that formed as he hugs her back, the feel of their hug something he didn’t think he’d feel again after letting go on the bifrost, yet it’s a feeling Loki never wishes to forget.

“Don’t worry,” He starts, “I promise I won’t leave you like that again.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Can you tell I love Frigga? Because I really love Frigga.
> 
> Thank you to everyone who's still sticking around despite my non existent updating schedule, and extra thank you to everyone leaving comments and kudos, especially to Astral Almighty, your comments always leave me smiling through the day.
> 
> Also in case I haven't left it in the notes for this fic yet, I have a tumblr! Same handle as here, VictoriaGreenleaf, in case anyone wants to check that out.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Extra thank yous to everyone still sticking with this fic, I have the worst uploading schedule known to man, but I already have some of the next chapter written, so the wait shouldn't be as long this time, pinky promise.

After breakfast and one last quick review of the ships, which really could have been longer if Loki wasn’t so good at keeping him busy in bed, Tony stands with the team on the Bifrost ready to head home.

“How did everyone like Asgard?” Thor asks looking around.

“Well even if it wasn’t strictly a vacation,” Steve starts, “We had a great time, the views are fantastic.” He finishes with a smile towards Barnes.

And seriously, Tony really hopes Steve knows that he’s giving him and Loki a run for their money on the best heart eyes, because come on!

“I remember thinking flying cars were insane in the forties, let alone spaceships like that.” Barnes adds, finally letting the heart eyes go for a more excited look.

“Yeah they really are something, give me some time without a world threatening situation and I’ll whip something like that up for earth.” Tony adds with a grin, earning a smile from Barnes.

“I’ll take a guess and say you enjoyed the technology more than Asgard itself?” Loki says more than asks with a quirked brow.

“Yep, I liked the technology almost as much as the company.” He’ll keep the title for most annoyingly sappy thank you very much.

“Well the company is far from something unique to Asgard.” Loki replies.

“Now who made you think I was talking about you? I meant your mother, she’s very nice.”

Loki laughs while shaking his head in response.

“Glad everyone enjoyed their stay, and we gained new allies, all in all I’d say we’re returning to earth in a better place than we left.” Thor says speaking up and walking towards Heimdal.

“I believe we’re ready to head back.”

Heimdal nods before moving closer to the center of the room.

“Then I wish you all a safe journey back, and Thor, Loki, it was good to see you both again.”

Tony sees Loki stiffens slightly at that in surprise, if Tony could guess before simply nodding in return as Thor smiles.

It’s mere moments after that they’re pulled into the Bifrost and once again consumed in colour.

The second they step off the elevator Tony’s greeted by shouting.

“Mr Stark!” Peter calls as he runs over.

Before he can so much as say hello, the teen continues.

“I’m happy you’re all back in one piece, but how dare you go to space without me! Do you see this shirt! It says NASA for a reason Mr Stark!”

“In my defense, I didn’t have too much of a heads up that I was going to space, and secondly, it could have been extremely dangerous, so no way were you going.” 

Hold on.

“Speaking of not wanting you involved in a very dangerous situation, how did you even know I was in space?” 

“Well Tony,” Nat starts as she, Clint, and Bruce enter the room, having chosen to walk in an orderly fashion instead of sprinting like Pete.

“It’s not exactly like you left a note with a cover story for him, and I wasn’t going to lie.”

“You’re a spy! You lie all the time!”

“Only when she’s paid.” Clint replies through Jarvis.

It’s only then that Tony notices everyone has subtitles again.

“Hold on why are you typing?”

“His hearing aids broke and we couldn’t fix them without you.”

Steve sighs while walking to sit down before asking. “Do I even want to know?”

“I showed Clint a video of a woman shooting a bow with her feet in a handstand, he insisted he could do it too.” Natasha answers with a grin.

“And as you can tell from the lack of functioning hearing aids, he could not in fact, fire the bow with his feet.”

Clint types his defense to that furiously. “I’ll have you know that I still got a bullseye, and even if I did fall I could definitely do it better than the video if I practice.”

“Yeah nope, not happening.” Tony replies.

Loki speaks up then, grabbing the attention of the room.

“While this is all amusing, and it’s good to see you again Spiderling, I believe we have more important matters to discuss.”

“Of course, did you find the power stone?” Bruce asks.

“No, sadly by the time we had arrived Thanos had already gotten to Xandar, we could not retrieve it.” Thor answers with a frustrated look.

“We did find some new allies though.” Barnes adds.

“Oh?” Nat replies.

“Hold on a minute,” Peter starts, “Who’s Thanos, and what’s a power stone? What’s going on Mr Stark?”

Tony opens his mouth and quickly closes it, unsure whether he should answer, then again, if Thanos shows up on earth, he’d be a lot calmer if Peter knew what was happening, but at the same time, he’d feel better with the kid worlds away from any danger. Yet, he’s more than proven himself, and if a big alien army does show up, he knows better than to think Peter will simply watch.

“Alright kid, this is going to take some explaining.”

After another long explanation about Thanos, and a recap of everything that happened, everyone was finally up to speed again.

“Well that’s not good.” Peter says from where he’s sitting on the couch, looking a little like he’s still processing it all. “I’m sorry you were stuck with him Mr Loki.”

Loki smiles softly before replying. “Don’t be, it was hardly your fault, and I’m here now.”

“So while we were away,” Steve starts after a small pause, “did you find anything on the other stone?”

“Yes and no,” Bruce replies, “I’ve managed to pinpoint it to three possible locations but they seem to have no real correlations to each other, so I’m not sure which one would be our best lead, but one of them is in New York, so I’d suggest checking that one out first.”

“I’ll go as soon as I’m able.” Loki quickly declares.

“I’m coming too, we don’t know what’s there, and I’m sure as hell not letting you go alone.”

“Very well, when do we leave?”

“Tomorrow if that’s alright, I want to fix Legolas’s ears before we go, and I want to try some of the things I learned from the ships on the suit too.”

Loki looks like he wants to dispute that for a moment, but eventually decides against it.

“Fine, we leave early tomorrow though, I’ll wake you with ice if I must.”

“Okay okay I’ll be up early.”

“Pete are you alright to get home or do you want me to drive you?”

“Oh, I was just going to walk-”

“Nope, I’ll take you home, Lokes want to get started on the hearing aids while I’m gone?”

“Gladly.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you again to everyone leaving comments and kudos, they're always a boost in motivation and they make my day.
> 
> I have a tumblr in case anyone's interested, you can find it here.  
https://www.tumblr.com/blog/victoriagreenleaf


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey look at me keeping a sort of consistent schedule! Fingers crossed I can do it again for next week!

Loki lifts his head at the sound of the door to the lab opening, as the smell of his favourite tea reaches him.

“I didn’t think you could make tea.” 

“Excuse you, I might think it tastes like nothing edible should, but I can make it just fine, and I can make it with less complaining than you when you make coffee.” Anthony says as he hands over the tea.

While taking the tea Loki retorts, “The only reason I complain is because you drink easily more than your weight in coffee each day, that’s far more tea than I drink.”

“Whatever you say Princess, it won’t stop tea from just being a bunch of hot leaf juice. Besides, I’m pretty sure I don’t drink that much coffee.”

“Actually Sir,” Jarvis cuts in, “Considering the volume of your average mug, there are definitely days when you’ve drank more than your weight in coffee, and on most other days it is still fairly close, one of the many reasons you should drink less coffee.”

Anthony gasps with an offended face at that.

“Excuse you J, just who’s side are you on?”

“I am on the side of preserving your health, so by default I am on Mr Laufeyson’s side.”

“Odinson.” Loki says before he can overthink it.

“Pardon?” Jarvis replies.

“Mr Odinson would be fine.” 

“Very well.”

Loki sees Anthony smiling and looks away to continue working on the hearing aids, not wanting to get into that decision right now, especially since he hasn’t actually mentioned it to Thor yet.

After a second he must have gotten the hint that Loki’s not discussing that right now, because he shifts the conversation.

“So, how are the hearing aids coming?”

“They’re almost done, it was a simple fix, they were just slightly smashed when Clint fell like a moron.” Loki replies, happy to change the subject.

“That’s tough talk for a guy who caught one of Clint’s arrows, only to have it explode in your face.”

“How did you even know about that? I thought you were busy fighting aliens at that point.”

“Oh it’s Clint’s favourite story from the battle of New York, he tells it every chance he gets.” He replies with a wave of his hand, “Though obviously he doesn’t tell it as much around you, considering you’re the one getting blown up in that story.”

“Well now I’m not so sure I should fix these.” Loki says with a mock scowl.

“Oh come on Lokes, he can’t hear all your well thought out insults without them.”

“I suppose that’s true.” He replies before continuing to tinker away at the devices.

“If you’re finishing the hearing aids, I’m going to get started on applying the notes I took from the ships into our fancy suit.”

“It’s more your fancy suit than mine.”

“True, but I wouldn’t be able to make it without you,” Anthony pauses and a playful grin appears on his face, “Besides, without you how would I know my ass looks good in the suit?”

“You’re absurd.”

“Yet you still like my ass.”

Loki can’t deny that, and soon they both give into laughter as Anthony starts setting up everything for the nano tech suit.

After returning the hearing aids to Clint, and promptly fleeing the room when he blasted bad pop music to test them, instead of simply speaking like a normal person, Loki walks back into the lab to find Anthony pouring over a table full of notes and parts.

“I still don't know how you keep track of everything when you work like that.”

He jumps when he hears Loki speak, and Loki can see him quickly cover some of the papers.

“How did Clint like the repairs?”

“He’s thrilled.” Loki replies before coming to lean on the table looking down at Anthony.

“Now just what are you hiding?” 

“It’d be pointless to lie to you wouldn’t it?”

“Well I am the god of lies…” Loki replies, rolling his eyes.

“Fine, it’s a surprise, for you, and no you can’t know what it is until it’s done, so no snooping!”

“Not that I’m not flattered, but is now truly the best time to be making a gift?”

“Yep, you’ll see when it’s done.”

“I suppose I’ll just have to take your word for it then.”

Anthony smiles up at him before turning his gaze to the table.

“Alright then Lokes, let’s get started.”

Loki sits with a tablet in front of him as he works out how to properly add in the replicating magic now that Anthony has more or less figured out the logistics of the suit so even if parts of the armour break off, he won’t be unprotected for long.

Though in truth he hasn’t written anything useful in almost five minutes.

He’s lost in thought over when he should bring up the golden apple.

Because it’s a conversation they need to have, sadly, he can’t in good conscience just sneak him the apple somehow and then tell him, “Oh I forgot to mention, you’re more or less immortal now, enjoy outliving all your friends.” Yet he’s also terrified of asking him, and getting no as an answer, because then Anthony will be on the list of people Loki will outlive, and despite their talks of living in the present, Loki still isn’t sure if a present without Anthony is one he wants to live in.

However Loki knows that decision is one Anthony has to make himself, whether he wants to live out an eternity with him, or simply enjoy the time they have left, and this is really a conversation they should have sooner rather than later considering the threats they’re almost guaranteed to face in the near future, yet-

It’s then that Loki realizes Anthony is trying to get his attention.

“Um, Lokes?”

“Yes, sorry I was lost in thought.”

“That’s fine, I’m getting pretty tired too, I was actually thinking we call it a night.”

“Who are you and what have you done with Stark?”

“What?” Anthony asks, looking completely bewildered.

“You’re willingly going to bed at a decent hour when you have a project you could be working on instead?”

“Well,” Anthony starts as he moves to meet Loki’s gaze, “I wasn’t really planning to go straight to sleep.” 

Not two seconds later Anthony’s lips are on his as his hands move into Loki’s long hair.

Loki doesn’t even need to think as he deepens the kiss, placing the abandoned tablet on the workbench to his right.

They break apart for air long enough for Loki to say, “Now this is far more in character.”

Anthony lets out a small carefree laugh at that before reaching to pull Loki up by his shirt from where he was sitting.

“Move to the couch?”

“Gladly.” Loki replies as he stands, quickly lifting Anthony into a bridal carry before walking to the couch.

“Now this is just ridiculous.” Anthony says through a smile.

“Perhaps, but I don’t see you asking me to put you down.”

Instead of replying Anthony sits up in his arms, giving him a soft kiss.

Loki places Anthony on the couch then, moving so he’s essentially straddling the other man.

“It’s sights like this that make me believe people used to worship you.” Anthony says from beneath him, arousal clear in his eyes.

“Well then, why don’t you revive the tradition.” Loki replies as he leans down into a kiss. 

As they deepen the kiss hands roam, moving to undo shirts and tangle in hair.

A short minute later has them both topless with shaky breathes.

Loki’s eyes meet Anthony’s before they roam over his bare chest, over the scars and reactor adorning his chest as Anthony’s hands slowly move down to the waistband of Loki’s jeans.

And it’s at that precise moment that Bruce walks into the lab.

“Oh my god!” Are the first words out of the scientist's mouth as he catches sight of the room's occupants.

“Perhaps thinking to knock would have been wise.” Loki replies, sounding annoyed from his position still atop Anthony.

“I- Sorry I was just-”

“Bruce,” Anthony says looking up, “I love you, but unless the world is about to end, just get back in the elevator.”

Bruce opens his mouth and quickly closes it before nodding and walking back through the door.

Loki lets out an annoyed sigh still looking at the door before Anthony places a hand on his check and turns his head back to face him.

“Well now that he’s gone, where were we?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Comments and Kudos make my day so thank you to everyone already leaving those!


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